Singer Jasmine Bharucha returns to roots for benefit concert
Steveston’s Jasmine Bharucha has started a new foundation dedicated to raising awareness for diabetes and other causes.
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Updated: November 20, 2009 4:14 PM
Determined to give back to her community, Jasmine Bharucha decided to do what comes naturally: sing.
A world music star in her native India two decades ago, the Steveston resident has found the stage again to help raise awareness and funds for the Canadian Diabetes Association.
“Diabetes is just one of those things you don’t think is a major problem. But now one in every three children born after 2000 is going to be diabetic at some point in their lifetime,” says Bharucha, 40.
On Wednesday, Bharucha and others will perform a benefit concert at River Rock Show Theatre, the first show of her foundation We Are the Champions.
Born in Bombay to a musical family, Bharucha started singing at age six and landed her first recording deal with Warner Brothers at age 16.
“It was very fast, and I did know that it was my purpose,” she says. “As a child I said to my mother, ‘This is what I want to do.’”
She toured through Asia, Europe and Africa, before starting a family in Canada in 1994. The one-time star on South Asian MTV and now a working realtor is re-awakening her musical roots, writing and recording music again and fronting a band called Jasmine Infusion.
Her music today is decidedly more “Canadian,” with sounds of rock, blues and folk, and her songs offer positive messages.
The first cause her foundation is focusing on is diabetes, a chronic condition resulting from the body’s inability to sufficiently produce or properly use insulin.
She plans on organizing a benefit concert for a different cause each year.
“There are a lot of causes. There are so many things,” she says. “It all starts in prevention and awareness.”
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We Are The Champions
•7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 25, at River Rock Show Theatre
•Featuring Jasmine Bharucha, Saffron Henderson, David Steele, the C.M. Singers, Mulgrave Community Choir, Westwind Elementary School Choir and Monique, Michelle and Michael Creber
•A fundraising evening for the Canadian Diabetes Association
•Tickets, $30, at www.ticketmaster.ca or 604-280-4444.
